Tuesday, April 24, 2012

And then I promised you a tutorial for it? And that was about, uh, forever ago? Well, when I promise, I deliver. It might be after you've all forgotten about it, but I deliver.

The tutorial is actually three separate parts - the making of the bulletin boards (they're not real bulletin boards - but they're just as good, only cheaper!), the making of the map gallery, and the making of the personalized pushpins. Why am I talking like some documentary?Anyway, I've divided the how-to's into three tutorials, so it won't be so incredibly long and crazy to read through.

First up: Personalized Pushpins.

For the record, that's not really sculpy, it's Fimo. I think I like Fimo better... more colors to choose from and it seemed a little easier to work with - AND it's cheaper! But that's totally personal preference.

Cut a little triangle piece out of card stock for your pattern. I wanted my pushpins to look like little flags. Take a piece of fimo and spread it out to the height of the triangle pattern and really long.

Take your pushpin and set it in the middle of your fimo. Fold one side over the pushpin.Gently smoosh the sides together and start shaping the clay so that it's straight and angular instead of rounded.Lay what will be the short side of the triangle down on the work surface and push gently to make it nice and flat.

Lay your triangle pattern on your clay piece, over where your pushipin is.Use a sharp knife to cut around the pattern piece.Pull the extra fimo away and take off the pattern. Gently shape any edges if needed.

Use your letter stamps to mark an initial. Place the stamp over the clay where you want your letter to appear and gently press down.Turn your flag over and mark the initial on the back side, too. Reshape any edges if necessary.

Line your baking sheet with wax paper.Lay your triangles on the wax paper.

I used one color for mr, one color for me and one color for both of us. These flags represent the places we've gone individually or - for the red ones - together (for this one, I used our last initial). The small white balls have stars stamped on them. These represent the places we want to go. There is also a small ball in each of our individual colors - blue for where mr was born, yellow for where I was born, and red for where we currently live.

Follow the directions on your particular clay for baking your pushpins. Once they are baked completely, let them cool. Pull them off the wax paper and you've got cute, personalized pushpins for your awesome Chalk-Cork Board Map Gallery Wall. What a mouthful!

Up next: How to make your own bulletin boards on the cheap!

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